Mercedes-Benz and Laureus broadening their worldwide involvement.

Mercedes-Benz and Laureus broadening their worldwide involvement.

New national partnership.

Mercedes-Benz is further expanding its worldwide involvement in the area of corporate social responsibility and stepping up its cooperation with the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. In the run-up to the Laureus World Sports Awards, which will be held in Shanghai on 15 April 2015, the premium automobile manufacturer has announced a new national partnership: Mercedes-Benz and Laureus in China are joining forces under the aegis of the Mercedes-Benz Corporate Citizenship Alliance Initiative. The goal is to improve the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in China through joint sport projects. This step will mark the establishment of the first national Laureus Sport for Good Foundation in Asia.

Better perspectives.

“Daimler fully embraces and supports the great ways in which Laureus changes the lives of young people. Together with the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation we will give by 2016 about 150,000 deprived young people in China a chance and better perspective through sport,” says Hubertus Troska, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, Greater China. “Our local corporate social responsibility activities go even beyond: in 2015 alone we will donate in total 7.6 million euros to our comprehensive social programs in China, which clearly demonstrates our commitment to this great country.” Mercedes-Benz is one of the founding partners of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which forms a crucial element of the brand’s social responsibility.

To mark the establishment of the Chinese national foundation, a GLA 260 Laureus Special Edition was presented on the eve of the Awards. Some 16 vehicles, each representing one year of the Laureus Foundation’s existence, are to be auctioned off for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. The proceeds are to go to the “Hope School Program”, a new Laureus project in China.

Sustainable work.

The support for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation is Mercedes-Benz’s most important involvement in the field of corporate social responsibility, and is established throughout all markets worldwide. Ever since the Foundation was established in 1999, Mercedes-Benz has supported and promoted the aims and values of this worldwide non-profit-making programme, which seeks to improve the lives of ill or disadvantaged children and young people through social sports projects. With this cooperation, Mercedes-Benz is aiming to further expand its involvement in sustainability work China, which had already begun back in 2007. “To further improve our global involvement, in the future each member of the Board of Management will become the patron of one Laureus project around the world. In this way, we can strengthen the ties that connect the Foundation and Mercedes-Benz, bringing us even closer together”, says Ola Källenius, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing & Sales.

Mercedes-Benz and Laureus worldwide.

In the USA the brand has also been a member of the partnership for a healthier America since February. Mercedes-Benz USA is to provide the American Laureus Sport for Good Foundation with funding to the tune of 10.5 million dollars in this connection up to 2017. Since 2012, Mercedes-Benz USA has supported projects by the Foundation in over 30 cities, helping to influence the lives of over 140,000 in a positive way. A further 125,000 children and young people are to be reached every year by way of the new campaign. An initiative by Mercedes-Benz and the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation South Africa started in March. This year alone, Mercedes-Benz South Africa will be donating 235,965 euros to this initiative. Through these measures, Mercedes-Benz is actively helping to consolidate and expand the Foundation’s work at national level. As such, the company is following the mission of Nelson Mandela, who declared at the first Laureus World Sports Awards in 2000: “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.”

The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation uses sport to address the social problems of children and young people throughout the world. The Foundation is currently promoting more than 150 social sports projects all over the world – a number which is continually rising. In all, donations in excess of 60 million euros have been generated since the Foundation was established in the year 1999. Worldwide, these funds have benefited 1.5 million children and young people aged between 8 and 18.

The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation is the charity arm of the Laureus World Sports Awards, which were initiated by the founding partners Daimler and Richemont and are supported by the global partners Mercedes-Benz and IWC Schaffhausen.